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Aliki2017

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  1. Thanks for all this great advice, and it's helpful to know other pups have this issue. Today we took him on a walk along a well traveled trail and he was very good. No barking and no lunging. I know the "look at that" technique and I've been trying to incorporate it into our training. The funny thing is some walks, like today's, he'll do well and other walks he seems on edge and will lunge and bark. Maybe he's tired on those days? Over stimulated? Having a tough day? Same thing with cars. We'll have a stretch of days when he doesn't do more than turn his head when a car passes us, and then all of a sudden, he's back to lunging! He's a funny little pup.
  2. I'm sure I've seen some discussion on these boards about this, but I'll post for some ideas. My 5 month old BC mix Cricket will sometimes bark and lung at people when we walk him. He doesn't do this every walk. He also really seems to like people, and is all wagging tail and soft ears when people approach him directly to pet him. He reacts when we're walking and people are striding past him without stopping. He also sometimes does this with cyclists and runners, but not always, and he sometimes does this with other dogs but, again, not always. I don't like the lunging and barking at people thing at all. Here's what we are trying to do - if you could please let me know if we're on the right track: I am trying to get him to sit and focus on me each time a person (dog, cyclist, runner) approaches, so I can distract him. This works part of the time, but not all of the time. He's very smart, and can tell when we're trying to "bribe" him to either do or not do something. He has a good "leave it" if treats are involved - not so good if I just tell him to leave something and don't offer an exchange of a treat. He's only 5 months, so I don't expect him to be perfect at "leave it" yet. I've also tried walking him quickly past people while telling him "leave it" over and over again, but I worry that walking quickly past the object of interest might stimulate him more. Why does he do this? He's a confident little pup and we've had him since he was 8 weeks old. His interactions with people (and other dogs) have always been good and safe ones. Why would a puppy develop this behavior?
  3. Thanks for all the great feedback! We will definitely need to build in more "time outs" - or "safe space" times for him to calm down. We've never had such a high energy, excitable pup before, so it's challenging sometimes to figure out what to do!
  4. Welcome! Your puppy is so beautiful!
  5. Thanks! We'll keep at it. He sees this other dog too infrequently, so maybe we need to step up the playdates so we can work on his behavior.
  6. It's hard to believe that Cricket is coming up on five months old! He's turning out to be, as my husband likes to say, "a good little pup". I'd say about 95% of the time we can correct his over-exuberant interest in the cats with a sharp "ah-ah" or "eyes on me" command, his mouthiness is decreasing, and he's calming down considerably. He will now have periods where he actually lies on his bed in the kitchen while I cook, or while I work at the kitchen table and we are SO happy to see that. He was a perpetual motion machine for so many weeks (we brought him home when he was 8 weeks old) that I despaired about whether he would ever learn to calmly flop around like our old dog did. One current issue we have: our closest friends have a three-year old male dog who is roughly the same size as Cricket. They love to play with each other, but Cricket just won't quit when it comes to playing. He constantly engages the other dog, pulls on his ears, leaps onto him and, as of our last visit (they were over at our house), will mount the dog! He makes himself a complete pest. The other dog won't separate himself from Cricket, and while he will growl at Cricket, his tail is still wagging while he does it. We put Cricket in his crate for about an hour and a half so we could have a peaceful dinner on the porch, but then when we let him out he was right back at the behaviors. We love to hang out with our friends, and we'd love for Cricket and their dog to also be friends who will play AND chill out together. Is there anything we should be doing, other than crate time? Will Cricket eventually calm down in this dog's presence? He has been socialized with other dogs in terms of being exposed to them, and on walks he behaves pretty well, all things considered, when he encounters another dog. Also, we correct him for mounting, but obviously this is embarrassing behavior and we don't want it to become a habit. It seems connected to his heightened excitement level when this dog is over, or when people he doesn't see often visit. He tried it on my father-in-law last weekend when he was visiting. Very awkward. My FIL just sat there and looked amusedly on while he did it, which was frustrating, but understandable, I guess. I told Cricket "ah-ah" and put the leash on Cricket straight away and took him out of the room. Do we just keep correcting and hopefully this behavior will disappear as he matures? Thanks! Oh, and here's a recent photo of our little guy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxbHdpOC0td0pDMzg/view?usp=sharing
  7. Thanks, all! One ear "popped" last week and is upright. The other still has a little fold at the top that flops over. I wonder if that one too will pop? My husband is hoping for an asymmetrical look. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxajUxVzVaUTRTZ2s/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxZHg4VlFLa3d2YW8/view?usp=sharing
  8. Thanks, all! My husband and kids got me a dog DNA kit for Mother's Day I know there are conflicted views on the reliability of such kits, but I'm still excited to send it off and see what's in this great little pup we've got. I'll keep you posted!
  9. It does seem on the light side to me, but I'll hope he does some more growing. He's been in the throes of teething and hasn't been the best or most voracious eater these past couple of weeks, so he may pack on some more growth once he's through the worst of it.
  10. My husband and I are both college professors and we have flexible schedules, so he gets quite a bit of exercise. He loves walks, playing in the backyard, pushing around his puzzle ball, working on a kong - these are all things we do with him daily. I think the toughest part is trying to gauge whether any poor behavior is due to pent up energy or being tired!
  11. Gogo is so cute! Our border collie mix is 16 weeks old, but we've had him since he was 8 weeks. I think, when it comes to potty training, my philosophy has always been that a puppy can't go outside too many times for potty. You don't say how old Gogo is, but from the photos it looks like he's maybe 8 weeks? At that age a puppy needs to pee about every 30 minutes. Definitely after naps, after meals, and after playing/excitement. This is tough when you live in a condo, but honestly their bladders are just tiny when they're young. We would take Cricket out after all those times, and many times in-between. We watch him closely and if we saw him sniff the ground, turn around in a circle, or look distracted, we knew he had to pee. Take Gogo out the same door each time. We hung Cricket's leash on the knob of the front door and would rattle it each time we went to take him out. Now he goes to the door and sits by his leash. I can't speak to the humping, but I suspect this is perfectly normal behavior. My family dog growing up (a spayed female) used to hump my dad's legs all the time, her whole life. Cricket was afraid to venture out in the dark when he was little. Only in the past couple of weeks is that fear fading. I think that's very normal instinctive behavior. The dark hides predators, right? Good luck with Gogo -- what a sweet pup!
  12. Cricket is finally 16 weeks! He had his final series of puppy shots this past Friday. I was disappointed to find that he weighed in at 13.7 pounds at 16 weeks, which seems to me to be on the small side. He's a shelter puppy, but I'd been hoping that the border collie genes would result in a larger dog to match his border collie personality Any guesses on how big he'll be? I'm hoping he'll be at least 25 lbs, but now I'm worried he might end up significantly smaller. Is it normal for there to be a growth slowdown during teething (he's in the thick of it). How much more active growth will he go through? After 8 weeks of "look at me" training and redirection, and clicker-rewarding, he FINALLY seems to be making some progress in the not-chasing-cats department. He has been rough housing with our boy cat for weeks by pouncing on him - Benny doesn't help by lying down right in front of Cricket, rolling over, and inviting play. Cricket's showing some real signs of self control and impulse control! This morning Benny was by kitchen door leading to the screened porch and I didn't notice. Cricket could have cornered him to "play", but instead he stopped, looked at Benny, looked at me, and came over to me to sit and get a treat. We're working on "down" and mouthiness. I have to say this puppy is exhausting at times, and it hasn't been all roses and sunshine. Moments like this morning though give me hope that with persistence and consistency we'll move through these puppy days and out the other side! Here he is at 16 weeks: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxZFpMZG1CY284S3c/view?usp=sharing His ears are normally tipped (I think they are likely to stay tipped since they haven't changed by 4 months) but they stand up when he's super-alert: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxSU5TTllsUXFrd2M/view?usp=sharing He looks worried because we're at the vet, waiting for his 16-week check-up.
  13. Well, he's still in his crate in our bedroom! If I manage to wake up before my alarm goes off, I creep out of bed and can squeeze my shower in. If my alarm goes off first, he gets too excited by the alarm and barks. Since my alarm rings early (5:30), it's hit or miss that I wake up before then. I've been setting it for ten minutes sooner so I can have a little cushion to offset the time it takes to get ready while dealing with him. I actually really like having him sleep in our room, and he seems very secure and comfortable with it. The plan was always to move him downstairs when he got older -- a plan my husband does want to stick to, but I think we'll wait until he's a few months older.
  14. Thanks! I love this puppy. He's gotten a little better with the barking, but he's just a vocal boy! Here's a recent photo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxak1qa0VwZmJCYVE/view?usp=sharing Alissa
  15. I know others are better equipped with advice for you but I do have to post to say I have a border collie mix named Cricket as well!
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